Help re-elect Democrat Andrew Zwicker to the New Jersey state legislature. The election takes place on November 7, 2017.

In addition to spotlighting five Virginia state-level candidates chosen by Flippable for the upcoming race in November, we at OTYCD are also devoting posts to six candidates chosen by 314 Action whose races fall in 2017. 314 Action is an organization that boosts hopefuls who have STEM backgrounds.

Zwicker was first elected to the New Jersey legislature in January 2016, where he serves on the Judiciary Committee as well as the committees for regulated professions and also for telecommunications and utilities. 314 Action helped him then, and is helping him now. He is the only scientist currently serving in the New Jersey legislature. In addition, he is the first Democrat ever to represent his district. He beat his Republican rival by just 78 votes.

Zwicker holds a Ph.d in physics from Johns Hopkins University and is the Head of Science Education at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He is also a fellow of the American Physical Society and edits the organization’s newsletter.

In the legislature, he works to make college more affordable and to expand access to pre-K. He accepts climate change and wants the state to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, in which nine states joined forces to reduce climate-harming emissions. He wants to make sure that laws protecting the environment are enforced. And in all things, he will bring the rigor of a scientist, making decisions based on facts and evidence.